Holder for metal wool or the like



Nov. 8, 1932. c. FIELD ET AL v 1,887,294

HOLDER FOR METAL WOOL OR THE LIKE Filed April 10, 1928 misty fi'e/a, mm 0077004 Campbell INVENTOR5 THEIR ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 8, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE caos ny nun, or anooirmm, Aim cnnv'ron L. current, or roar RICHIOND, imw xonx, Assmnons 'ro BBILLO mANUrAc'r'onmo courAmr, Inc, A couronA'rron' NEW YORK HOLDER FOR METAL WOOL 68 THE LIKE Application filed April 10,

The resent invention concerns a convenient ho der primarily designed for pads or wads of fibrous cleaning material. The device is peculiarly adapted and primarily intended to serve as a holder for steel or other metal wool.

An object of the invention is to provide a holder of this type which is well suited to the uirements of every day use, beingcharacterized by the following desirable and advantageous features.

It is absolutely safe to use, in that it positively eliminates the danger of pricking the fingers or scratching the hands by the metal wool. Moreover, the pad. securing means cannot scratch or mar a surface being rubbed by the wool.

A wad of cleaning material may be securelfy attached to the holder with expedition and acility, and even more readily detached and discarded after it has served its purpose.

The holder serves as or provides a handle which may be conveniently gripped and held,

and which guards the users fingers from contact1 with the workor with the rough soiled wa The holder is substantially proof against deterioration by water or by the types of cleansing agents commonly used.

It is of simple, practical, rugged construction and well suited to the requirements of economical manufacture.

The device preferably comprises an integral body and handle block of distortable, resilient material, such as rubber, having a pocket in its under face which houses and protects the wad attaching means. The attaching means includes a movable member to engage the wad and hold it clamped against the body, and a keeper disposed in the pocket for receiving the pin end of the movable member. More specifically, such means preferably includes a skewer-like pin, and a keeper to positively retain the penetrating end of the pin against accidental displacement to exposed position. When the pin is manually released from the keeper, it'tends to spring out of the ocket so that a wad may be conveniently impaled on the pin.

The invention may be more fully underiaaa. Serial no. 288,878.

1 fied form of holder; and

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the holder shown in Fig. 4.

. Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawmg, I have shown a pad or wad of metal wool. This pad maybe of any desired shape.

Such, pads are now commonly sold in various shapes and sizes. 1

The holder includes a bod 11 in the form of a sheet or slab of suitab e contour to receive the pad, which in the present case is rectangular. This body is preferably of rubber or some equivalent distortable resilient material. Itis formed with a longitudinal upstanding centrally disposed, preferably integral rib 12, that serves as a handle. This handle has a tendency to prevent undue transverse flexure of the body, while permitting free longitudinal flexure as seen in Fig. 3.

The two thin side portions of the body may be manually grasped and readily bent upwardly to distend the mouth of an elongated shallow pocket 13 formed in the bottom of the body immediately under the handle 12.

The means for penetrating and securing the pad 10 is housed within the pocket 13 and may be more conveniently brought into play to impale the pad when the body is flexed. This means includes a pin-14 upon which the pad or wad is impaled, and a guard or keeper member 15 for the free end of the pin.

Preferably, the pin and the keeper are formed by the opposite exposed ends of a spring wire 16, the intermediate portion of which is embedded in the body and handle block 11, 12. The intermediate portion of the wire may be provided with any suitable number of ofl'set return bends 16a or may be otherwise bent to insure its firm anchorage in the block.

The ends of the wire extend downwardly at 165, 160 into the pocket 13, one extremity being then laterally bent to form the pm 14 and the other extremitly bein curved back upon itself to form the 00k s iaped keeper or guard 15. Thus, the wire member is in many respects the equivalent of an ordinary safety pin with a section embedded in the block.

The inherent resiliency of the pin is such that when the pin is released from the keeper it springs to the dotted line position of Fig. 1, and when the body is flexed as shown in Fig. 3, the wad 10 may be conveniently impaled on the pin. As the pin is manually forced back into the pocket and engaged with the keeper a portion of the impaled wad will be confined between the pin and the bottom of the pocket, and as the flexed body is released the walls of the pocket will close upon the bundle of wool therein, tending to bunch and clamp it and further secure the wad against loss.

The operation of attaching the pad to the holder may be easily performed. With the pin free, the holder is grasped and flexed with one hand. The wad is pushed onto the pin with the other hand then pressed inwardly toward the body, forcing the pin back into engagement with the keeper. With the pad thus attached, neither careless handling nor energetic use will dislodge it.

In Figs. 4 and 5, we have illustrated a slight modification which provides a more positive means for protecting the users fingers from contact with the work or the cleaning material.

With this form of the device, the longitudinal handle portion 20 is supplemented by integral finger guard extensions comprising upstanding flanges 21 extending across the end of the block and short flanges 22 extending back for a short distance along the side edges of the block.

As the holder is pushed to rub the cleaning material over the work, the flange 21 takes part of the forward thrust and prevents the fingers from slipping over the end of the block, while flanges 22 afi'ord lateral support for the fingers and prevent lateral slippage thereof.

In this form of the invention we have also shown a slight modification of the embedded wire structure. The pin and keeper are formed by the outer ends of wire arms 23 which extend deeply into the handle and are then turned toward each other to provide short coaxial runs 24, the latter being integrally connected by an arcuate run 25 swinging toward the bottom of the holder.

against the keeper.

With both forms of the device the pin is housed within a protective pocket and POSI- tively held therein by the keeper, so that the danger of scratching the work or injuring the hands is eliminated.

It may be noted that there is no danger of the pin springing out of the keeper in use. In the first place, the spring pin by its own inherent resiliency presses tightly In the second place, u ward pressure on the wad tending to lift t e pin out of the keeper is counteracted by the downward distortion of the body which tends to hold the pin on its seat.

We claim:

1. A holder for a wad of cleaning material including a body of distortable resilient material, a handle on one side of the body, means disposed at the opposite side of the body for engagement wit-h a wad, said means including a wad impaling device having one end anchored to the body and the other end free and a keeper means for the free end of said device, said body bein recessed to provide a guard pocket in WhlCh both the impaling means and the keeper are disposed and in which the impaled portion of the wad is received.

2. A holder for a wad of cleaning material including a relatively thin body having a relatively long, narrow groove in one face thereof, and an elongated handle on the opposite face, formed as a strengthening element, opposed with respect to and parallel with said groove, and wad attaching means arranged wholly within said groove.

3. A holder for a wad of cleaning material including a body of distortable resilient material, having integral therewith, a relatively long narrow handle extending lengthwise on one side of the body, means disposed at the opposite side of the body for engagement with a wad, said means including a wad impaling device having an end anchored to the body and the other end free and a keeper means for the free end of said device, said body being recessed to provide a guard pocket in which both the impaling means and the keep-er are disposed and in which the impaled portion of the wad is received, said handle means extending parallel with said wad impaling device and recess tending to stiffen said holder against flexing at right angles to said impaling device.

Signed at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, this 7th day of April, A. D. 1928.

CROSBY FIELD. CLINTON L. CAMPBELL. 

